And Mary, Mary who has given up so much to me and my insecurities, my inabilities, she deserves to choose now. I have run out of questions.
I put the car in gear and start the rattling engine. My eyes wander out the window to the blasted trees clutching the edge of the rock on the side of the canyon, holding on for dear life, gripping the earth because that’s what they do, because this is the only thing that’s real. The bridge stretches out boldly into the empty air like a suggestion, like a peace offering. I pull out of the lot and start driving East.
TEN-WORD TRAGEDIES
Copyright © Christopher Golden & Tim Lebbon 2019
COVER ART
Copyright © José Nieto 2019
Frank Turner photo on cover © Lotte Schrander. Used with permission.
First published in hardcover in June 2019 by PS Publishing Ltd. by arrangement with the authors, this eBook edition is published in July 2019. All rights reserved by the authors. The rights of Christopher Golden & Tim Lebbon 2019 to be identified as Authors of this Work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the authors’ imaginations or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
ISBN 978-1-78636-245-2
PS Publishing Ltd
Grosvenor House, 1 New Road
Hornsea, HU18 1PG, England
editor@pspublishing.co.uk
www.pspublishing.co.uk
Contents
TEN-WORD TRAGEDIES
FOREWORD
I AM HERE
LONDON SAFE
THE WAR WITHIN
FROM THE LIVING ROOM OF COTTAGE 6
BEAT THE CARD HOME
SHE FORGOT THEM ALL, SHE COULD NOT REMEMBER ANYTHING BUT LONGING
GIVE ME TWO
THE LETTER FROM ELSIE
I HATE TO LEAVE THIS
‘HOWARD STURGIS AND THE LETTERS AND THE VAN AND WHAT HE FOUND WHEN HE WENT BACK TO HIS HOUSE’
THE HOUSE IN MY HEART
FORT LAUDERDALE
BROKEN FOR YOU
THE LIONS
THE SAME AS THE AIR
LOWCOUNTRY TIDINGS
TAPROOT
ROYAL GORGE
TEN-WORD TRAGEDIES